Reviews and News about British, European and Translated crime fiction, tv and film.

Monday, June 08, 2009

A Day in Hay

Our eldest cat is too poorly to go into a cattery now so we cancelled our plans to go away and instead have two weeks at home. The plan is to do "day trips" to places, though the weather has been less than encouraging. We managed to avoid getting more than a few drops on us today though the sky was very ominous. The first trip has been to Hay on Wye.

Using a combination of car/train/bus we arrived at just after 12.30pm ie time for lunch. Due to the poor scheduling between train and bus we had an hour's wait in Hereford both ways.

So on arrival in Hay, we hotfooted to the Granary cafe (which now has free wi-fi access!). We were soon tucking into a delicious cashew nut roast and vegetables. Too full for cake at this point, the next point of call was Richard Booth's emporium.

But...though the front has had a spruce-up, the inside was not fairing quite so well. Both the basement and the first floor were off limits thus curtailing our exploration of crime fiction (basement) and IT (first floor).

This shop is where I normally pick up second-hand books from the Golden Age or unfamiliar translated books from a few years ago.

A short walk through Hay's streets took us to a couple more (unphotographed) shops and then I thought I'd hit the £1 shop. All books priced at a pound irrespective of what's on the cover (or so I thought).

It seems the credit crunch has hit BookEnds as well as now prices range between £1 and £3. Still a bargain but a bit of a shock when I went to pay as the shop has been £1 a book for as long as I've been visiting Hay.

A couple more shops lead to no more purchases and I was beginning to worry about my 'haul' - but I hit (relative) pay-dirt in the Murder and Mayhem bookshop.

This was followed by a browse of the jigsaw shop, including marvelling at 18,000 piece jigsaws. All this shopping meant it was time for a 'snack'.

Then a last look at the view before catching the bus back to Hereford.

5 comments:

Looks like it was just cloudy and didn't rain while there, so lucky you!

Met someone who worked for Booth on the Hay to Hereford shuttle bus during the fest and he had a lot say and was very informative. I hope to catch him again some time.

Love the jigsaw puzzle. Met a cat just like that one earlier today, although he/she had henna-like hues on the back, over the tabby bits. Lovely and friendly thing. Could have taken him/her home, but I think he/she has one already! And I am allergic and I'm having nose/allergy probs at the mo. Grrr.

Lovely buildings, scenery and definitely food! Sounds like a lovely day - looking forward to the days when I can join you in days like that. I see that one of your haul is a K O Dahl, not bad if that was one of the £1 ones (hope it was not £3).

I suppose that if the basement was closed, it gives you a perfect excuse for a return visit!

By the way, I had a very unusual (for me) cooking urge yesterday and made lentils with roasted veg (boil lentils, stick veg in oven, mix together, voila!). I might try it again next week with variants.

Maxine that KO Dahl would be worth £3 as it was really good and I have the other two waiting on the TBR shelf. I was able to find a bookshop that sold Biggles and Tom Merry books and push back the years. Hay is a book lovers heaven.Pleased you had a good day Karen.